There was a melancholy, dated
atmosphere to the proceedings. The sky was overcast and black.

Wednesday, May 30, 2001

In 18 innings on Tuesday: Arizona 1,
San Francisco 0.Box
Score and 503 pitches of play-by-play.
A great game -- all those zeroes -- but it doesn't match the game I was
at in Montreal on August 23, 1989. Los Angeles 1, Expos 0, in 22 innings [only 8
major league games in history have been longer].

Pedro Martinez just wants to be alone.
Asked to discuss tomorrow's matchup with Mike Mussina, he asked reporters to
leave him alone. All he would say about the Yankees, whom he has not beaten in
five straight starts, is, ''I wish I'd never see them again. I wish they would
disappear from the league. Then we'd be winners.''

Martinez said everywhere he goes - from
vacations to charity appearances for needy children - he is peppered with
questions.

''I'm just sick of being in the papers
every day,'' he said. ''Sick of it. Would you guys give me a month off or two?''

Though he appeared alternately angry
and playful, he seemed sincere in concluding, ''Being in the spot[light] is
tough. It's tough to be a star.''

Red Sox star Pedro Martinez was
sometimes serious and sometimes not yesterday as he answered questions about
facing the Yankees tomorrow, his second of what could be three straight starts
against the Bombers.

He chafed over questions about facing
Mike Mussina and the Yanks, who have beaten the Red Sox in each of the last five
games that Martinez has started against them. "I wish I'd never see them
again," Martinez said. "I wish they'd disappear from the league. Then
we'd be winners."

Martinez didn't seem happy with his
role of promoting the matchup thrust upon him by reporters' questions. "I
hate this part. I'm just sick of being in the paper every day. Sick of it,"
he said. "Can't you guys give me a month off?"

Then Martinez, perhaps the game's
greatest pitcher, smiled. "It's tough to be a star," he said.

Pedro Martinez, winless in his last
five starts against the Yankees, bristled at questions about tomorrow's
scheduled start against the Bombers. "I hate this part,'' he said after the
Sox' 4-3 loss last night. "I'm just sick of being in the paper every day.
Sick of it. Can't you guys give me a month off?''

As always, Boston's battle plan begins
and ends with Pedro, who takes on Mike Mussina on Wednesday in a game that
suddenly means plenty. He'll be ready -- when is he not? -- but the ace
also seems weary, having to carry the Red Sox Nation on his shoulders.

"I hate answering all these
questions. I hate having to be someone important," Martinez said. "I'm
the only guy here who doesn't get a vacation. Even when I go home, I hear,
'Pedro, what do you think of the Red Sox?' Or, 'Pedro, what about [Manny]
Ramirez?'

"I want one month off,"
Martinez said to reporters. "Do you think you could give me a month
off?"

Pedro was smiling, half-joking, but
repeating a request he's made before.

Pedro Martinez (6-1, 1.60), who squares
off in a rematch against the Yankees' Mike Mussina Wednesday in hopes of
avenging his lone loss of the season, said he was flattered that many of the
former Red Sox sluggers of the past said they were happy they never had to hit
against him.

Martinez said the crowd's enthusiastic
pregame reception - including a standing ovation for him - was not unexpected.
"I had a hint as soon as I got to the airport when I was traded to Boston
and there was something like 200 people there," he recalled. "I hadn't
even thrown a ball and had never been to Boston before. That told me right away
that the fans here and the people here really appreciate and know
baseball."

Martinez said he was awed by the
turnout and occasion [Red Sox 100th year celebration].

"It really made me proud and made
me feel happy," said Martinez, who added that he would like nothing more
than to bring a world championship to some of the more senior members of the Red
Sox alumni club. "I'll tell you what, this isn't the worst year to win a
World Series for those guys who worked so hard in the past. I'd certainly be
jumping up and down for a month or so if we won."

The image will remain with Augusta
GreenJackets manager Mike Boulanger for many years to come. It is an image that
convinced him that the buildup surrounding prized prospect Tony Blanco was more
than just hype.

The defining moment came in Blanco's
fifth game with the Jackets May 2 on the road against the Columbus RedStixx,
when the 19-year-old Dominican drilled an 0-1 fastball the opposite way off
Columbus starter Fernando Cabrera for a tape-measure home run. The blast left
Boulanger and the Jackets shaking their heads in stunned disbelief.

"It had to be well over 420 feet
the other way, which really impresses you," Boulanger said. "That's
something you see from Manny Ramirez or something. He's a big-time exciting
player."

Pedro MartŪnez, it seems, is not only
a great pitcher for the Red Sox. He exhibits other abilities as well, including
a knowledge of grammar.

... Asked if the Yankees do anything
against him that other teams do not, he said: "Not really. They're not
scoring that many runs. They go one or two. If they beat me with that, I tip my
hat. They're not doing much. How many other teams do you see scoring three or
fewer runs?"

He didn't say "three or less
runs," as many people would say, incorrectly. He said "three or fewer
runs." The man can do it all.

After the Red Sox won two out of three
from the A's at Oakland, Pedro Martinez had a word of caution about the AL's
defending West Division champions, who were struggling badly at the time.

"They got a bad start, but you'd
better watch out for them," Pedro warned. "That is a tough lineup with
a lot of good hitters, and their pitchers are better than you are seeing right
now. When they get it together, and they will get it together, you're going to
hear from them because those guys know how to pitch."

Maybe the A's were listening to Pedro's
scouting report, because ever since that series, they have been one of the
hottest teams in the league. They finally clawed their way back to .500 after
being nine games under, and now they're in position to become a contender again.

Additional research by the team
revealed that Hideo Nomo, with his one-hitter Friday night, became the first Sox
pitcher in 78 years to pitch a no-hitter and a one-hitter in the same season.
The feat was last accomplished by Howard Ehmke. In his next start after
no-hitting Philadelphia Sept. 7, 1923, Ehmke allowed a leadoff infield single to
the Yankees before he retired the next 27 batters. Cy Young also pitched a
no-hitter and a one-hitter in the same season for the Sox, in 1908

Yes, says Pawtucket Red Sox hitting
coach Gomer Hodge, who feels Israel ''Izzy'' Alcantara would be a 35-40 home run
threat if given the opportunity to play regularly in the major leagues.

Alcantara was tearing up the
International League with a league-leading 12 home runs and a .324 batting
average after last night's 10-2 loss to the Indianapolis Indians at McCoy
Stadium. ... ''I'm working hard here, doing the best I can to give myself
another chance. I'm ready. I'm waiting.''

[I]t was twenty-five years ago today
when a tall, skinny right-hander with hyperactive mannerisms and a penchant for
talking to the baseball before delivering it captured the imagination of
America.

.. Access to the daily starter pitching
logs (courtesy of the gracious paterfamilias of Retrosheet,
Dave Smith) shows that the Bird was worked very hard. 24 of Fidrych's 29 starts
were complete games; what's more, five of these games were ones where the Bird
pitched into extra innings.

In August, manager Ralph Houk kept
piling on the workload: the Bird threw nine or more innings in six consecutive
starts ... [In August his 64.1 innings] came in just seven starts, which means
that Fidrych was averaging more than nine innings per start!

That was a very heavy workload for a
21-year old finesse pitcher, and it's likely that it had a lot to do with the
Bird's truncated future. However, there are additional facts about Fidrych's
1977 season that have been overlooked when his story is told.

A day after owner Mike Ilitch stunned
the Detroit Tiger organization by claiming the Tiger payroll this year is $60
million, Ilitch asked one of his top executives for help in proving him right.

Wednesday, Scott Fisher, the chief
financial officer of Ilitch Holdings, Inc., said that by his count, the Tigers
will spend approximately $64 million this year on player payroll.

... Fisher offered no documentation for
his numbers, which show the Tiger payroll as $14 million, or nearly 30 percent,
higher than the $49.8 million figure listed by major-league baseball. Asked to
explain the discrepancy, Fisher referred to different methods of accounting.

With the season in only its seventh
week, Commissioner Bud Selig is sounding the alarm over the grave economic
condition of at least four of Major League Baseball's 30 franchises and openly
speaking the words that until now he had been reluctant to even contemplate:
contraction and relocation.

Only in 2001 can Pedro Martinez be
given a warning for grazing a batter - WITH A FREAKING CURVE BALL! How did the
game stoop to this utter mess? By licensing Barbie Doll, that's how! Learn more
about this disgrace to our past time. ...

Heck, you knew something was haywire in
June of 1999 when Jaret Wright, Cleveland's wild young pitcher, got called into
the league office and was told to be more careful throwing inside - and among
his civility teachers was none other than Bob Gibson, once the standard bearer
for propriety-be-damned intimidation. Two days later, Major League Baseball sent
out a press release, announcing its first officially licensed Barbie doll.

Maybe you had a Mickey Mantle, or a
Pete Rose, or a Reggie Jackson. Maybe you slept with it smashed between your
mattress and box spring. Lovingly stroked its hide. Oiled it down. Covered it
with saddle soap. Maybe you still have it. Maybe itís out in the garage, on
the shelf with the WD-40 or in the attic under a pile of old clothes. Maybe you
go there on occasion, late at night, when the wife and kids are asleep. When the
house is silent and cold. You go there, pick it up and slide it on. You punch
the pocket with a tight fist, run through your pitcherís motion and catch one
way back on the warning track.

Whether David Cone is pitching at
Yankee Stadium or Fenway Park, at some point he'll need to start producing. If
not, than the Red Sox will have to go back to Tomo Ohka, who -- with a 3.59 ERA
in 21 big-league starts -- is presently languishing at Triple-A Pawtucket.

[Editor's note: ESPN.com is
publishing Chapter One from Roger Angell's new book: A Pitcher's Story: Innings
with David Cone." This is the first of two parts. Part
Two is here.]

The shortstop, Orlando Cabrera, up at
bat for the third time, swings and lifts a little foul fly off to the left of
the infield. The pitcher, hurrying off the mound, watches the ball anxiously,
pointing up at it, and shoots a glance over at his third baseman. Yes, this ball
will be caught-it's the last out-and when the pitcher, David Cone, takes in the
moment he sinks to his knees with his head flung back and his hands up above his
ears. It's over.

In 1999 the Red Sox allowed fewer runs
than the Yankees, but the Yankees had better pitching. In 2000 the Red Sox
allowed fewer runs than the Yankees, but the Yankees had better pitching. Is it
any wonder that the conventional wisdom makes some of us want to yank the hair
out of our heads?

[L]et's look at some other players who
aren't getting the proper respect from their teams. ...

I'll lead with what has to be one of
the stranger transactions in Dan Duquette's long, sordid history. Last week,
Duquette shipped Tomokazu Ohka back to Pawtucket to clear a rotation slot for
David Cone. It's not strange that a team would give Cone another shot; he's just
one full season removed from a perfectly good 1999 season with the Yankees. The
Sox may have felt a need to get him on the roster while his shoulder is
reasonably pain-free following his first rehab start in Class A.

But as eager as the Sox might be to
have someone else with a famous name in their rotation, it's silly to think
they're going to get better work from Cone than they will from Ohka. In 21
starts and 117.2 major-league innings, Ohka's ERA is 3.59. He was Boston's
second-best starter in 2000 and doing above-average work in his seven starts so
far in 2001 (3.57 ERA, better than 2-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio). He's
ridiculously overqualified for Triple-A, and it's to his credit that he went
back down without a peep of protest.

What will probably happen is that Cone
will get hurt by Flag Day and Ohka will return. It's actually a nice problem for
the Sox -- don't forget they also sent down Paxton Crawford, also major-league
ready -- and reaffirms what I said in April: their rotation is comparable to, if
not better than, that of the Yankees...

After joking with reporters following
Sunday's win at Kansas City, center fielder Carl Everett was indeed on the bus
and accounted for on the trip from Manhattan to Trenton. Among the missing,
however, were pitcher Pedro Martinez and infielder Craig Grebeck, and it was
unclear whether either had been excused from attending.

While manager Jimy Williams indicated
that their absence from the game was "permissible,'' he also said the
matter would be handled "in-house.'' Duquette made a similar remark, albeit
with a sheepish grin. Should either Martinez or Grebeck have been unexcused,
each almost certainly would have been subject to a fine.

The way the Red Sox have set their
rotation, Pedro Martinez is scheduled to make his next two starts against the
Yankees. He will pitch with an extra day of rest both times. Working on five
days' rest between starts instead of the usual four, Martinez is 4-0 with a 1.38
ERA. But he hasn't beaten the Yankees in his past four starts against them.
Martinez will not start any of the seven games against the Blue Jays.

Manny Ramirez ambles almost aimlessly
when he approaches home plate, giving the appearance with every ounce of his
stony 205 pounds that this isn't a very serious endeavor for him.

... "Manny is one of the smartest
hitters in the game even though you might look at him and think this is a little
kid walking by. No, he knows what he is doing," teammate Pedro Martinez
said. "A lot of people don't realize what Manny does before the game or
during the game. There's no doubt Manny is one of the smartest and hard-working
hitters in the game. And he also has the gift only God can give you-the good
eyes, the patience and the swing."

Manny Ramirez's agent, Jeff Moorad,
confirmed yesterday what's been suspected all along - Ramirez wanted to come
home and play for the Yankees. "If the Yankees had been competitive, no
doubt they would have been Manny's first choice."

The Red Sox do not appear to be taking
sufficient advantage of an opportunity presented to them this year in their
battle to overtake the New York Yankees. Either that, or they are not taking
their games with the Bronx Bombers seriously enough.

... Several days ago, looking down the
barrel of two series with New York over the next 10 days, Boston sent down to
the minors two starting pitchers - Paxton Crawford and Tomokazu Ohka ... both
had pitched pretty well against New York.

... I do not agree with the decision to
use Cone now, in this upcoming series against New York. The Sox know going in
that the former Yankee cannot go more than 70 pitches or so. The Yankee hitters
are very patient when they want to be.

... Take Monday night's scheduled game
in New Jersey against the Trenton Thunder. ... The game was rained out, but the
team still made the trip.

... I'm looking for one last thing that
will tell me for sure whether the Sox really get it. If anyone like Jose
Offerman or Carl Everett gets a "night off" against the Yankees, I'll
scream.

Pedro Martinez is idolized and adored
at Fenway Park more than anywhere, but Red Sox fans haven't even been getting
his A-material.

By pitching eight shutout innings
Friday night to lead the Sox to a 6-3 victory over the Kansas City Royals at
Kauffman Stadium, the three-time Cy Young Award winner won for the 20th time in
his last 21 road decisions. "Twenty and one? I didn't realize that. That
would be a pretty good season.''

Martinez (6-0) is 4-0 with a 1.00 ERA
in five road starts this season and has allowed only four earned runs in 36
innings, striking out 49 batters. He was 12-1 with a 1.66 ERA in 16 road starts
last year and allowed only 64 hits and 22 earned runs in 119 innings, while
striking out 150 and walking only 17.

Since the start of the 1999 season,
Martinez is 26-3 with a 1.65 ERA in 35 appearances away from Fenway. He has
surrendered only 153 hits, 43 walks and 46 earned runs in 250 innings, while
striking out 345.

Manny Ramirez, whose .412 average leads
the majors, is all bone and muscle, and baseball.

Hobbies? Hasn't got any. He tried
bowling, but wasn't so good at it. He likes hip-hop, but can't play it in the
clubhouse, by order of Boston Red Sox manager Jimy Williams. He might see a
movie, especially if it has karate like the last one he saw, Crouching Tiger,
Hidden Dragon.

The standings tell as much of the story
as the box scores do today. John Smoltz and David Cone were on major league
mounds Thursday. Neither won. Smoltz lost. Neither got beyond the fourth inning.
Both found positives.

Some organizations have dabbled with
scouting in the Far East with minimal or no success, while the Red Sox have
established a foothold up and down the Pacific Rim. ...

"We are looking for first-round
talents," said Ray Poitevint, the Red Sox' executive director of
international operations, "or else we'll pass." ... [T]he latest find
to emerge as an impact prospect is Class A Augusta righthander Seung Song.
... Song is unbeaten (2-0) in eight starts, while his 1.36 ERA ranks third
in the circuit. Opponents have managed just a .204 batting average against him,
and his 44-7 strikeout-walk ratio remains on par with his outstanding career
mark. [Greenjackets
stats]

On any given day, the chance that
Suzuki could start a 57-game hitting streak are 5.2%, which means that over the
course of a 162-game season, the chance that Suzuki would not fashion a streak
that long is only 0.3%! The chance that Suzuki could get a hit in 36 more games
(on top of the 21 he already has) is 15.0%, or better than one chance in seven.

Pedro Martinez stepped up his attack on
baseball's lords of the realm yesterday, angrily attacking their decision to
fine Frank Castillo $750 for hitting John Olerud with a pitch in the backside
May 9, an inning after Chris Stynes was struck in the face by a pitch from Aaron
Sele that fractured his cheekbone.

''They're trying to change baseball
completely,'' said Martinez. ''It's stupid what they're doing, stupid. ... It
looks nice for them to sit in the first or third row at Yankee Stadium and watch
Pedro Martinez pitch against Roger Clemens, but let them get their butts out
there and pitch. They don't pitch or play this game. I understand they used to
play, but they don't anymore. People don't pay to see them, they pay to see us.
The people making the decisions never pitched.''

Before Major League Baseball executives
try to tell him how to pitch, Pedro Martinez would like them to step on the
mound and try it for themselves. ...

"First they give me a warning on a curveball, and then they fine guys for
throwing a pitch in the air." ... Martinez seemed to be taking aim at
Frank Robinson, a Hall of Fame outfielder. As baseball's vice-president of
on-field operations, Robinson has become its chief enforcer.... "They're
trying to change the game. People aren't paying to see them. They're paying to
see us."

For the second time in three weeks,
Pedro Martinez has a message for Frank Robinson, baseball's vice president of
on-field operations, and others in the commissioner's office. "Come and get
your [butt] in there and pitch a little bit. ... I just wish they could pitch
for a week and try to nibble the inside corner with a 97-mph fastball."

The team has just 42 walks through
their first 18 road games - an average of just 2.33 walks per game. ...

The worst offender - by far - has been
rookie Shea Hillenbrand. This guy is just awful. ... he's batting .224 in May,
with an on base percentage of - are you ready? - .224. The same. ... Hillenbrand
is on a pace to finish the season with fewer than 6 or 7 walks in a 162 games.
That is surreal. ...

Doesn't Shea Hillenbrand understand -
even at the most basic level - how completely inconsistent such an approach is
to that taken by virtually every great offensive player that has ever played the
game?

Look at yesterday's lineup. ... there
would appear to be no explanation for batting Scott Hatteberg - he of the .224
on base percentage - second. ... Why exactly was Offerman given an off day? Was
it because his on base percentage against right handed pitchers was almost twice
as high as Mike Lansing's? (.418 vs. .213) Does that make any sense at all?

Manny Ramirez will be the starting left
fielder (Thursday). He hasn't played the position professionally, including in
the minors or spring training. "That's cool, I'll be ready, man.''

... Derek Lowe has resumed his role as
the team's full-time closer.

... Frank Castillo was the only Boston
player disciplined when Major League Baseball handed down penalties for the wild
beanball war between the Sox and Seattle Mariners at Fenway Park on May 9.
Castillo was fined $750, while Seattle's Jose Paniagua received an undisclosed
fine and three-game suspension for throwing a pitch at Ramirez' head in the
eighth inning.

Aaron Sele, who started the matter by
fracturing Chris Stynes' cheekbone with a fastball in the second inning, was not
disciplined. Said an irritated Castillo: "$750 for hitting someone in the
butt, and we've got a guy with a broken cheek.''

"We might as well just give him my
spot, that's it,'' said Pedro Martinez, pondering the idea of Cone approaching
his old self. "It's exciting to have him back, see him in action - not only
for the team, but for his own good. There's so much to learn from watching a
pitcher of that caliber. He resembles a lot of what I am. He would always be one
pitcher I would copy from.''

Both Mickey Mantle, a white Yankee, and
Willie Mays, a black Giant, patrolled center field in great old New York
ballparks. They debuted the same spring and ended their careers in Cooperstown.
Yet Mantle's rookie card is worth more than twice as much as Mays's. A few years
ago, economists called the Mantle-Mays card comparison a textbook case of racism
and proof that racial discrimination taints baseball cards, that bastion of
Americana. ... "It creeps in again," says Paul Gabriel of Loyola
University in Chicago. "We're not sure why that happens."

For the past year and a half, I have
been having an affair with a pro baseball player from a major-league East Coast
franchise, not his teamís biggest star but a very recognizable media figure
all the same. ... I want the ballplayer to come out ... Iím pretty confident
thereíd be more support from the team than he imagines. With the exception of
an occasional judgmental type, most of these straight guys donít have a
problem with homosexuality. Their prime concern is winning, not who youíre
sleeping with. [Also in Hartford
Courant.]

Stop what you are doing. Go immediately
to this article and read it. Twice. Then come back -- this site will still be
here. ... I was going to snip some of my favorite passages, but then realized
I'd have to clip half the damn essay. ... Hey, why are you still here? ... GO!

Pedro Martinez , who experienced
tightness in his back last Saturday when he pitched against the Athletics, said
yesterday he is fine. Martinez said he felt his back spasm a bit after he
sneezed while getting out of his car after arriving at Fenway Park that day.

Cone had a dream last July of pitching
for the Sox in Fenway Park. His wife, Lynn, claims to have shared similar
nocturnal reveries, telling author Roger Angell of a dream in which Cone was
pitching in a small park full of media, wearing a dark-colored jacket with red
warm-up letters on the back.

"I've kind of got those
butterflies again," said Cone, whose Boston Red Sox pitching debut comes
tomorrow against Minnesota at the Metrodome. "I've got to admit it. When I
heard I was pitching, I was excited."

"My thing about Manny is that I
think he's the optimal mental player in the game of baseball," said Mark
Shapiro, the assistant general manager of the Cleveland Indians who will take
over for reigning GM John Hart at the end of this season. "He is a role
model for sports psychology. He doesn't let the past or the future affect him,
and that is what sports psychology is all about. You just focus on one play, one
at-bat. I think he's the best I've ever seen at doing that."

Ramirez was named American League
Player of the Week yesterday for the second time this season ... Ramirez hit
.429 (9-for-21) last week, leaving his major league-leading average for the
season at a robust .408. In six games he had 12 RBI, increasing his major
league-leading total to a gaudy 46. He slugged 1.143 to raise his American
League-leading number to a preposterous .754.

With runners in scoring position,
Ramirez is batting .449. With two outs and runners in scoring position, his
average is .565. He is hitting .474 against left-handers and .385 against
righties. He is batting .632 on the first pitch - .632! - and .491 in day games.
He is batting .569 when he does not strike out.

Suddenly you find yourself talking
about Manny Ramirez. All the time. You talk about him so much that, in your
house, he lost his last name a long time ago. Ramirez? Who needs that? Just
Manny will do.

This goes beyond the numbers, though.
In six weeks, the man's become a folk hero. He has that little smile and that
nothing-bothers-me demeanor and that missile-projector of a bat, and no one
since Carl Yastrzemski in 1967 has been so assassin-like in clutch situations.
... [T]he Fenway faithful [have] fallen in love. ... you can hear the buzz from
the crowd as soon as Ramirez pops out of the dugout and heads to the on-deck
circle. ... There's a new hero in Boston, and his name is Manny Ramirez.

The legend of Manny Ramirez grows by
the day. ... On Sunday, Oakland manager Art Howe finally tired of watching Manny
beat his team. Ramirez had 12 hits in 23 at-bats against the A's, including a
game-tying homer in his previous plate appearance, when he came up in the 10th
inning with one out and nobody on base in a tie game. Howe ordered him
intentionally walked. None of the Red Sox coaches could ever recall seeing a
batter walked with nobody on base. Softball, maybe; the big leagues, no way.

Ramirez said he'd never been walked
intentionally with nobody on, not even in high school. That's a testament to
just how hot Ramirez has been at bat. How hot? He's driving in runs at a faster
clip than he did last year or in 1999, when he became the first player in 61
years to exceed 160 RBIs. Ramirez had 46 RBIs in 37 games this year. That's 1.24
RBIs per game, or almost exactly what Hack Wilson averaged (1.23) when he set
the RBI record with 191 in 1930.

"It's not going to happen,"
Ramirez said when asked about his chances of breaking Wilson's record.
"That's why I'm not even thinking about it. That's impossible."

He might be right about that, but
Ramirez has carved out a niche for himself among the greatest RBI machines in
history. Last week he played in his 1,000th career game, reaching the
minimum required by Total Baseball to make the all-time list of RBIs per
game. Ramirez drops into the list at No. 6, just behind a fellow named
Babe Ruth, and barely ahead of contemporary rival Juan Gonzalez (entering
Tuesday's games).

While Cashman's lousy swaps created
flaws he had to fix, there is no question he came through in the clutch last
summer. He will have to do it yet again to keep the Yankee dynasty alive. [Art
Martone of the Providence Journal adds his comments.]

Anyone who saw Chris Stynes in the
hours and days after he was struck in the face by an Aaron Sele fastball on May
9 may find this hard to believe, but the Red Sox infielder most likely will not
require surgery to deal with his two fractured cheekbones.